Homemade laundry detergent

Guess what I made today!

 

No that's not edible (though it does remind me of cheese...). It's homemade powder laundry detergent!

I found this recipe on Pinterest (I will link it as soon as I edit this on the computer). I had always shied away from homemade detergent before because most of the recipes I had seen were for liquid and involved cooking and melting and then shaking before each use, etc etc. too much work for me. Besides I was pretty attached to Gain. 

But we are working on Dave Ramsay's baby steps to financial peace (more on that later- we are still on the first one) so we are trying to cut costs as much as possible so I thought now would be the time to try it!

It's super easy and very cheap. Three ingredients!  I found them at Kroger but I know Walmart carries it too.

You will need one bar of Fels-Naptha (or ivory works too) soap, 1c of Borax, and 1c of washing soda.  Just grate the soap up, then combine it with the borax and washing soda and that is it!  Use 1tbsp per load (can use 2tbsp for heavy soil). 

I did my first load of laundry with it today and it was a success!  Smells fresh and clean and it did a good job getting dried baby food off of Jackson's bibs!  It is definitely something I'm keeping up with. I have tons of borax and washing soda left so when I run out of this batch I just have to buy the soap. 

Let me know in the comments if you try this!

Our bedtime routine

So I thought I would do a post about our bedtime routine!  Jackson is 7 and a half months old, we have been doing this routine consistently since he was 5 months old or so.

I guess we start after Jackson has his "solids" dinner. We try to feed him around the same time every evening (usually 6ish)

Then it's a bath!  We don't bathe him every day- usually it's every other day. On the "off" days we just wipe his face and hands with a washcloth. He loves his baths though whether they are in the sink...

Or the tub...

Then we dry off and he gets some naked time!  We let him play but we try to keep stimulation to a minimum

Then sometime around 7:30 (this varies some depending on when and how long his late afternoon nap was) he starts rubbing his eyes so we get his jammies on and go to my bedroom and read a book (or two depending on how sleepy he is and his attention span)

Then we nurse side lying and nine times out of ten he falls asleep while nursing

(Side note- totally didn't mean to have the flash on!! Thankfully it didn't bother him)

Then lastly we transfer to his crib. Sometimes he stays asleep and sometimes he will wake a bit but if so he usually rolls over and goes right to sleep! (This is usually around 8)

Then he will sleep in his crib for the first part of the night. He usually wakes around 10, and if just giving him his binky doesn't get him to go back to sleep I will scoop him up and nurse him again back to sleep. He usually wakes again between 11 and 2 and usually then is when I bring him into our bed to cosleep with us the rest of the night. (Otherwise we are up at increasingly shorter intervals). 

What is your bedtime routine like with your little ones?

Jackson's first 4th!

Hey everyone, as promised I'm here to dump a bunch of pics from Jackson's first 4th of July!  The fireworks ended up being canceled due to rain, but my brother had bought some of his own and set them off in between rainstorms.  However, Jackson did NOT like them one bit.  Poor guy was scared to death, so we spent our time inside when the fireworks were being set off.  Hopefully next year he will like them and not be so scared.  We may try again in September at the Sternwheel festival.

Anyway, here are my favorite shots from our little photoshoot we did at home...

And then here are some ones we took at my brother's house that evening!

Jackson & my nephew Parker! (he's 2.5mo old)

An Independence Day rainbow!

Two handsome little guys on their first 4th of July

Hehe my nephew Parker :)

Love this one, totally looks like they are having a little conversation ;)

Yeah it's really hard to get a 7 and 2 month old looking the same direction at the same time!

Me & my boy! <3 br="">

Me & my sis in law with our boys

My brother's little family 

And my little family too <3 br="">

Hope everyone had a great holiday!  Now the countdown to our beach vacation is ON!  We leave a week from tomorrow.  I'm really looking forward to taking my little water baby to the ocean for the first time.  :)

This coming week I'm off from babysitting (the family is on vacation), sooo I'm going to start trying to get the house cleaned up and get clothes washed and packed for our trip!  Can't wait!

Happy Independence Day!

 

Happy 4th of July, everyone!  Our day has been pretty low-key so far, just been hanging out at home.  Brew is off work too so Jackson is loving having daddy home.  He has been particularly a "Daddy's boy" lately. ;)

I took Jackson outside and did a quick little photo shoot, I didn't get a ton of pics, he had a particularly short attention span when it came to being happy for the pictures today.  He was more interested in trying to pick grass and eat it lol!  But I got a few good ones (three favorites are in the collage above).  I'll do another post later with more and also some pics from our evening.

We are heading to my brother's house this evening for a little cookout and fireworks.  They live just a few blocks from the city park where our town puts on their, albeit kind of pathetic but still fireworks nonetheless, 4th of July show.  I'm hoping Jackson isn't scared of fireworks.  Lately he's been showing fear with some loud noises (like the vacuum or even me shaking out a new trashbag for the can) so we will see.  Who knows, he may even sleep through them since it'll be after his usual bedtime!  We also plan on snapping a few pictures of Jackson with his cousin Parker.  I'm really looking forward to seeing those two boys grow up together (they are 5mo. apart)

Hope everyone has a safe & happy 4th!  How are you celebrating this Independence Day?